Line inserting device for high pressure vessels



Oct. 11, 1955 LINE INSERTING DEVICE FOR HIGH PRESSURE VESSELS Filed Oct.5, 1953 D- E. BROUSSARD ET AL 2 Sheets-Sheet l lnven'ors: D. E..Broussard H. E. Mc Knnzg Bg- H. 7n c Thzir ATTornckj Oct. 11, 1955 D.EBROUSSARD ET AL 2,720,266

LINE INSERTING DEVICE FOR HIGH PRESSURE vEssELs Filed Oct. 5, 1953 2Sheets-Sheet 2 lnven'ors: D. E. Brousse r-d Fg H. E. Mc Kinnzg Bx): H`714 Thair Ai'i'orng United States Patent O LINE INSERTING DEVICE FORHIGH PRESSURE VESSELS Douglas E. Broussard and Howard E. McKinney,Beliaire,

Tex.,tassignors to Shell Development Company, Emeryville, Calif., acorporation` of Delaware Application OctoberS, 1953, Serial No. 384,021

Claims. (Cl. 166-77) This invention relates` to oil well equipment andpertains more particularly to an apparatus for inserting strings offlexible, elongatedycylindrical elements, such as cables, wire lines,etc.,` through a pressure seal into a high pressure vessel.

Since the present invention is especially well suited for insertingstrings of flexible cable into high pressure wells, it will be describedherein in its application to this particular type of operation, theclosed well being considered as a pressure vessel. It is, however,understood that the invention is in no way limited thereto, but may alsobe used for inserting temperatureiand pressure bulbs or similarinstruments, and leads and connections appertaining thereto intopressure vessels such, for example, as reaction chambers or towers inoilrefineries, etc.

lt is often desirable during the operation of a high pressure well to.introduce thereinto on a line or cable various well tools or instrumentssuch as gun perforators, logging electrodes, pressure or temperaturerecorders, flow indicators, etc. Insertion of these devices into thewell casing or tubing is generally accomplished by placing theinstrument attached to the cable into a lubricaton which consists of alength of pipe placed above the master valve on the christmas tree, oron a wellhead, said' pipe having a sealing element,` stuliing box, orother suitable closure means at the top thereof. With the master valveclosed, the lubricator is connected to the wellhead,` the sealingelement or stuffing box is` closed: about the cable secured to the tool,the master valve` is opened, and the tool lowered into the well.

In order to overcome the force exerted by the well pressure acting onthe cross sectional area of the cable which tendsto force the cable outof the well` and sometimes reaches very high values,` it is generallynecessary to4 attach weights or sinkers to the lower end of the cableeither below or above the tool. When a very small-diameter wire line orcable is used, tools can be successfully introduced into a low pressurewell by this means. However, when tools are` to be introduced into ahigh pressure well, it is not practical in most cases to use asufficient amount of sinkers to overcome the well pressure andthefriction of the sealing element or stuting box on the cable.

A cable-injecting device which has been successfully employed inVinserting cables or wire lines into high pressure wells is described inldetail in our copending application, Ser. No. 209,546, led February 6,1951, now U. S. 2,677,427 of which this invention is an improvement.While the cable-injecting device described in said patent can be usedsatisfactorily on high pressure wells, diiculty is experienced at timeswhen certain types of cables or wire lines, especially those of smalldiameter, are to be inserted in high pressure wells, the main dicultybeing a lack of suicient frictional contact between a Wire line and thesingle-groove sheaveof the above-identified cableinjecting device tooperate satisfactorily on high pressure wells.

It has been found that the frictional pull of a sheave on a wire line ina cable-injecting device may b e con- 2,720,266 Patented Oct. 11,1955

siderably increased by employing aV sheave which` has` a wide groove andwinding the cable or wireline around-the sheave several times. Whileattaining the desired result of obtaining the greater frictional contactbetween the wire line and the sheave, this is only :accomplished withseveral attendant disadvantages. For example, the. necessarily nearlydat-bottomed groove of the-sheave tends to flatten the round cable andcause excessive' tlexing and wear of the steel wires making up thecable, and: thus, shortens the life of the cable. Additionally, aAwidegrooved sheave does not possess the high friction'ali contact with acable which may be realized by a sheave having rounded V type grooves init, whichexhibits aiwedging effect on a wire line, if the wire line isof slightly greater diameter than the bottom of the groove. The greatestdisadvantage of having several continuous wraps-of cable on awide-grooved sheave is that the design of the groove causes the cable toslide axially on the sheave: as the cable is moved into or out of awell. This sliding contact between the sheave and the cable causeslrapid wear on the surface of the cable, especially when the cableissubjected to considerable tension as, for example, during.` its use ina high pressure well.

it is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to providean apparatus for inserting a line` or cable through a sealingv elementinto a high pressure well without the necessity of usingweights orsinkers;

lt is also an object of this invention toprovide ai device of the abovetype comprising a housing of toroidalor annular shape, said shapeenabling said housingtor enclose a relatively large diameter wheel andwithstand high internal pressures without undue increase of thethickness of itsv walls.

A further object of this inventionis to provide a cable# grippingmechanism adapted to grip a substantial length` of a` cable whilepassing it through` ahigh pressure sealy and insertingr it into a well`casing or tubing.

Another object of this invention is to provide` er cableinjecting deviceemploying a multi-grooved sheave, the' multiple grooves of said sheaveproviding azlarge area for frictional contact with a cable while at thesame time'l minimizing any wear or deformation of said cable;

Another object of this invention is tot provide af cable!-V injectingdevice employing a multi-groove sheave, the multiple grooves of saidsheave allowing several partialwraps of thefcable to pass over thesheave, thereby greatly increasing the pulling capacity of the sheavewith a minimum of wear and deformation of the cable.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the followingdescription taken in reference to the drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a front elevation, partly in cross-section, of the presentcable-inserting mechanism.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the cable-gripping element of thepresent apparatus taken along the line 2-2 of Figure 1. Y

Figure 3` is a bottom View of the multi-grooved cabledriving sheave andthe guide or transfer rollers of the present cable-injecting device. p

Figure 4 is an isometric view of a multi-grooved driving wheel havingtransfer or guide rollers positioned therebelow, diagrammaticallyillustrating the operating principle of the present invention.

Figure 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of three wraps of cablepositioned in the cable grooves of a portion of the cable-driving wheelor sheave shown in Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view of a modied form of the cable drivingsheave and driving mechanism therefor.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawing, the cable-injecting device of thepresent invention is provided with a circular housing 12 designed towithstand the high pressures encountered in oil wells. As shown inFigures 1 and 2, the central part of said housing 12 comprises a plate13 having holes 14 therethrough for mounting the apparatus in anysuitable manner above a wellhead. In the outer portion of the housing 12an annular pressure-tight charnber or passageway 15 is formed withinconcentric walls 16 and 17, sidewall 18 and an annular cover plate 19,said cover plate 19 having internally' threaded flanges 21 and 22adapted to lit the threaded cooperating surfaces of the concentric walls16 and 17 as shown in Figure 2. To assure a lluidtight seal, packingrings 23 and 24 may be used if desired.

Since the ability of the walls of a pressure vessel to withstandinternal pressures is a function of the shortest unsupported length ordimension of said walls, it will be seen that the annular shape of thepressure space 15 within the present housing 12 has the advantage ofpermitting very high pressures to be used in said space without thewalls having to be made excessively thick. It may be readily shown thatif said pressure housing were given a'cylindrical or spherical shapeinstead of an annular shape, the thickness of the walls thereof wouldhave to be increased by a considerable factor in order to be able towithstand the same pressures.

The inner concentric wall 17 of the housing 12 forms a journal bearingor shaft. Slidably mounted for rotation on the periphery or outersurface 25 (Figure 2) of the inner concentric wall or bearing 17 is agear wheel or ring gear 26 having a gear track 27 cut in approximatelyonehalf of the width of its outer surface and a plurality ofcircumferential grooves 28 cut in the other half of said surface.

' The circumferential grooves 28 are adapted to receive andsubstantially contain therein several wraps, or a con siderable length,of a cable 30 insertable through a lubricator 31 into a well casing ortubing (not shown). Since lubrcators are well known to the art and formno part of this invention, they will not be described in further detailat this time. The size of the grooved wheel 26 and the size of thegrooves 28 therein are necessarily dependent upon the flexibility of theVcable 30 and the size thereof, respectively. As shown in Figure 2, thegrooves 28 are preferably of a depth equal to at least one-half of thediameter of the cable 30 contained therein. When the cross-sectionaldiameter of the grooves 28 is equal to the diameter-ofthe cable 30,equal frictional forces will be applied between the surface of saidgrooves and the lower half of said cable 30 when the gear ring 26 isrotated.

In certain cases it is desirable to provide grooves which exert agripping action on a cable contained therein. Excellent results havebeen obtained by employing a ring gear 26a (Figure 5) having a groove28a slightly smaller in diameter than the normal cable diameter andhaving a depth equal to about three-fourths of the diameter of the cable30. In order to get the cable 30 in the smaller groove 28a, it isnecessary to open up the top of the groove by beveling the walls'thereofat anangle depending on the difference in the diameters of the cable andgroove. A groove 28a of the above-described design does not crush thecable excessively and exerts a gripping action on the cable 30 wherebygreater frictional force may be applied between the groove and the cablethan when a groove and cable of equal diameter are used.

The diameter of the grooved ring gear 26 depends upon the flexibility ofthe cable 30 being inserted in the well, said flexibility being in turndependent upon the size and Cil material and type of construction ofwhich the cable is made. Note that the ring gear and grooved sheave maybe bolted together to allow easy replacement of one part or the other.Normally, the diameter of the ring gear 26 is from about twenty to fiftytimes or more than the diameter of the cable 30. If an armored orinsulated conductor cable is employed having an outer armored sheath ofa plurality of wires twisted around the cable, the diameter of a ringgear to be used with this cable should be about two hundred times ormore the diameter of the wires in the outer armor.

The large diameter ring gear 26 which is rotatably mounted on bearing 17is adapted to be rotated by a relatively small diameter pinion 32. Asuitable stuing box 33 is provided around the shaft 34 of the pinion 32to form a lluidtight seal therearound. The shaft 34 of the pinion 32 isoperatively connected to and rotated by a suitable prime mover means(not shown), for example, a hydraulic, pneumatic or electric motor. Ifdesired, the drive shaft 34 of the pinion 32 may be provided with meanssuch as a clutch 35 for disengaging the pinion 32 from its prime movermeans (not shown) whenever it is not necessary to force the cable 30into the well, or whenever it is not necessary to hold or brake thecable from being extruded from the well by the well pressure. Forexample, when the weight of an instrument (not shown) being lowered inthe well and the weight of the cable 30 inserted into the well issuicient to overcome the pressure extruding forces, the driving pinion32 or the drive shaft 34 may be disengaged so as to allow the drivinggear wheel 26 to turn more freely on bearing 17.

If desired the driving pinion 32 and drive shaft 34 may be provided witha suitable Ashifting means which can be used to shift the pinion fromits meshing contact with the driven gear 27 Whenever it is not necessaryto either drive or to brake the driving sheave 26, see Figure 6. Forexample, the driveshaft 34 might be provided with a thrust collar 63which is positioned by a positioning sleeve such as the threaded sleeve62. Thus the sleeve 62 could be turned from outside the housing todisengage the pinion from the mating gear inside the housing. Thedriving wheel 26 would then idle freely without turning either thepinion 32 or its drive shaft 34. This has the obvious advantage ofeliminating the frictional drag of the rotating shaft 34 and unnecessarywear upon the drive shaft pressure seal 33.

The housing 12 of the cable-injecting device is provided with cableentrance and outlet ports 36 and 37, respectively, through the outerwall 16 therefo. Preferably, bosses or nipples 38 and 39 are formed orwelded or threaded to the outer surfaces of the outer Wall 16 to serveas guides for the cable 30 entering and leaving the housing 12. The axesof the ports 36 and 37 through the bosses 38 and 39 and the wall 16 aretangential to the grooves 28 in the grooved ring gear 26 and may besubstantially parallel to each other. Besides cable ports 36 and 37, thehousing 12 may also be provided with an injection port 42 forintroducing lubricating material between bearing 17 and the ring gear26. The boss 39 may be provided with a flange 43 or any other suitablecoupling or connection, by which the housing 12 may be secured to thetop of the lubricator 31. VThe other boss 38 may be threaded as at 44for connection to any suitable pressure seal or closure device 45adapted to be secured to the housing 12 or boss 38 and tit around thecable 3G, so as to close the annular space 15 in the housing 12 in ailuidtight manner. Preferably, the pressure seal 45 is of a typedisclosed in a copending application, No. 182,970, liled September 2,1950, now U. S. 2,670,225. The upper end of the seal 45 or the boss 38is provided with a port 48 in communication through a conduit 46 with areservoir (not shown) containing a relatively viscous transfer orsealing material such as heavy oil or grease. W axes, asphalt oremulsions thereof, glue sugar syrup, paraffin, water, drilling muds, orany viscous material may be used as pressure fluids.

The viscous transfer fluid is injected through port 48 into the bore ofthe boss 38 and sealing device 45. The transfer fluid is supplied from areservoir at a pres sure slightly greater than the well pressure so thata high pressure well seal is formed between the cable 30 and the wallsof the boss 38 and seal 45. Since the clearance btween the cable 30 andthe walls of the boss avancee -38 and sealingdevice 45 `'may be in theAorder of `is :formed `within the bore .ofthe apparatus. `The source ofpressurefor injecting the transfer uid may comprise the utilization of:the well casing pressure through a conduit 47, or the employment of acompressor such ras .an ainoperated vhigh-pressure power gun.

A cable-injecting device of the above-described design allows :arelatively Vlarge diameter grooveddr'iving wheel to be mounted in` apressure-tight 'housing lof hollow, `torus ring construction, saidvhousing having walls of minimum weight and thickness for withstandinghigh well pressures.

Mounted `in the `annular space 15 ofthe pressure-tight housing l2 belowthe grooved :driving wheel 26 are guide `or transfer rollers 5.0. Theserollers 50 lguide the cable 30 as it leaves fone `groove 2 8 of thedriving wheel 26 Yand lead it into the `adjacent l groove. The rollers50 are mounted `on :shafts 51 which :rotate in recessed bearings '52and5.3 l'formed in wall 18 and cover plate 19 of the housing 12, ras shownin Figure `2 `of the drawing. The surface ,of the Vrollers50 is providedwith one or more Agrooves 54, the number` of grooves on the roller 50heing at least one less than the Vnumber of grooves 28 in the drivingwheel 26. Each grooved roller 50 is mounted on its shaft 51 so :that itis positioned beneath the grooved portion of the `driving wheel 2,6. Theaxes of `the guide rollers 50 are slightly `askew to the Vaxis of the`driving wheel 26 so that the cable 30 contacts Ythese rollers 50 withrolling Contact.. The rollers tare small in diameter so as `to reducethe size of the `annular space 15 in the pressure housing 12 in whichIthey `are located. Preferably, a plurality of rollers `Si) are employedof varying diameters as shown in Figure l ofthe drawing, said rollers 50being positioned adjacentxthe` periphery of the driving wheel 26 -so asto llimit the `curvature of the cable passing over the rollers to nearly`that `of `the relatively large diameter `driving `wheel 26, since `avery short bend in the cable woulda-shorten the life .of the cableconsiderably. This is effected `by arranging the axes of the severalrollers along lthe line `of `an `arc having substantially the sameradius `as the wheel or sheave 26. This arrangement-llas .the advantageAof giving the present injector substantially ,the Lgripping power of atwo-sheave device whilelimiti-ng the space .occupied therebysubstantially `.to that .of a single Vsheav device. t

The several guide rollers 50 are positioned `so as yto allow the cable30 to contact each groove of the driving wheel 28 over `approximately`an 180 tare. The axes of the rollers 50 `are parallel `to each other,but are skew to the axis of the driving wheel `by `an angle u (Figure 3)where .o4-are an D P being the `distance between the centers of :the:grooves 28 and D is the diameter tof the `driving wheel 26.

One or more idling pressure wheels ,57 and 58 (Figure l) may be providedAto increase the pulling capacity ,of the driving wheel by pushing :the,cable 30 deeper into the grooves 23 of the wheel `26. Anynnumber of-these Vidling wheels may be employed and they are preferably located inthe housing 12 so that theyexert pressure `on the cable 30 just before.it leaves the driving wheel 26 prior to its entering the well, sincethe frictional force produced at this point is multiplied `by `.theother grooves `2S to give a greatly increased pulling capacity to `thedriving wheel 26. .Idling wheels of the type shown at 57 are pivotallyattached by means of a pin 59 to the wall 18 of the housing 12 .and arespring loaded'by means of a spring 60 to produce a continuous additionalfriction force between the `cable 39 `and the driving wheel 26.Alternately, anfidler wheel 58 ,is shown in 8 Figures l and 2 may beeccentrically mounted oda shaft 61 which extends through the wall 18 ofthe housing 12 in a iuidtight manner. The radial pressure ex- -erted byidler wheel 58 on the cable 30 may be adjusted to any desired value`from outside the housing 12 Yby merely turning the shaft 61 of theidler wheel 58 one direction or the other.

In operation, the above-described apparatus is affixed lin a ilu'idtight`manner `to the top of a lubricator 31 which is in turn secured to thetop `of a wellhead (not shown). `Rather than have the boss 39 supportthe weight of the housing 12, the housing is normally secured to somefixed support (not shown) adjacent the wellhead by pass ving `boltsthrough the bolt holes 14 in plate 13 of the housing 12. With thehousing 12 mounted on the 'lubnicator 31 and the well pressure shut offfrom the housing 12, the sealing element 45 may be secured to the inletcable boss 38. The 4cover plate 19 (Figure 2) `of the housing i2 isremoved so that an end of the cable 39 may be forced up sealing member45 and yboss 38. `.Cable 30 is then wound over the grooved wheel 26,.between the wheel 26 and .the idling wheels 57 and 58, down below the`guide or transfer wheels 50 and up over the `wheel 26 again in anothergroove. One or more wraps of cable .30 may be taken around the drivingwheel 26 and the guide rollers 50 depending upon the pulling capacityneeded to force the cable 30 `into the high pressure well. As the lastwrap of ,cable comes .oft of the grooved wheel 26, the end thereof ispassed ,out the cable port 37 and -into the well lubricator 31 Where thetool or instrument Vto be inserted into the well isthen attached to theend of `the cable. The cover plate 1'? (Figure 2) is then screwed on thehousing 12 to :close the housing in a fluidtight manner and transfer orSealing duid is injected through port 45 (Figure l) `tto seal .off `thecable 30 in the sealing element 45.

The housing l2 may now be subjected to wellhead pressure by the openingof the necessary valves (not shown) at lthe wellhead. The tool and cable30 attached thereto may be lowered into the well by rotating .the piniongear 32 which in turn rotates the ring gear .and driving wheel 2.6, andthus pulling the cable into `.the `chamber l5 against the pressuretherein, no force being thereafter required to force the cable into thewell, which is of the same or lower pressure as the chamber 15. Themulti-grooved injector wheel 26 is designed to allow several partialwraps of cable around the wheel so as to give high frictional pullingcapacity to the apparatus while at the same time eliminating thedisadvantages of a wheel having several wraps in a single wide groove.The cable can be passed over Vthe driving wheel `26 `as many `times asdesired to increase the frictional pull between the cable and wheel 26without having any sliding contact between the cable and wheel whichwould tend to wear the cable. A plurality of wedging grooves 28 as shownin Figure 5 of the drawing, having rounded bottoms can be used for `highpulling capacity with little harm to the cable 30.

It is to be noted that the cable 30 which rests in the grooves 28 of thelarge-diameter wheel 26, is in frictioual contact with the wheel throughat least one-half the circumference thereof, the frictional forces setup between the wheel and the cable being sufficient to pull the cable 30through the pressure seal 45 and force it out the cable port 37 and intothe well. A test run on a driving wheel `26 having three grooves 28therein showed that 4.6 times the instrument weight could be lifted witha single `-wrap of logging cable in one groove, ,15.3 times theinstrument weight with two 180 wraps of cable, and 56 times ,theinstrument weight with three 180 wraps of cable. Since each partial wrap(1.80") of the cable around the wheel 26 tends nearly to multiply thepulling capacity of the .previous groove, a multi-grooved wheel cableinjector of the present design can be constructed to have `sufficientpulling capacity without the necessity of employing manually operatedpressure wheels. However, if desired, additional .frictional forces maybe applied to the cable 30 by employing one or more idling wheels 57 and5.8 which are mounted in a fixed or adjustable manner in the housing 12.These idling wheels 57 and 58 exert a uniform and adjustable radialpressure on the cable 30 to increase the total frictional gripping forceof the grooved' wheel 26.V

The path of the cable 30 over the driving wheel 26 and the guide rollers50 is shown in the oblique projection in Figure 4 of the drawing. Thecable 3i) enters one groove of the driving wheel 26 and turns with thedriving wheel until it is lifted out of the first groove by the seriesof guide or transfer rollers 50. The rollers 50 guide the cable so thatwhen it comes in contact with the driving wheel again for the secondtime around, it rests in the second groove, and thence continues overthe wheel and the rollers again and up on the wheel and into the thirdgroove thereof.

The cable injector in its pressure housing 12 is subjeeted to a fluidpressure of at least that of the wellhead pressure. lf the uid pressurewithin the housing 12 is allowed to drop below the Wellhead pressure,the differential pressure between the well and the housing 12 tends tolift the cable 30 out of the grooves 28 of the driving wheel 26 andthereby substantially decreases the pulling capacity of the drivingwheel 26. This inherent feature of a wheel-type cable-injecting devicecan be employed to advantage if the fluid pressure within the housing 12is maintained at a value greater than the well pressure. For example, ifa logging cable 30 having a cross-sectional area of 0.10 square inch isinjected into a 3,000 p. s. i. Well by means of a cable-injecting wheelhaving a pulling ratio of 40 to l, the injector must normally pull orinject the cable into the Well against the well extruding force of(3000)(0.l)=300 pounds. However, if the fluid pressure within theinjector housing 12 is kept at 3200 p. s. i. the 200 p. s. i. pressuredifferential would tend to extrude or force the cable from the housing12 into the well with a force of (200)(O.l0)=20 pounds. Since thepulling capacity of the driving wheel 26 is proportional to the cabletension on the well side of the wheel, the additional twenty Vpounds ofcable tension would increase the pulling capacity of the driving wheelby (20 lbs.)(40)=800 pounds. At the same time, the 3200 p. s. i. fluidpressure which tends to extrude the cable through the cable sealingdevice with a force of (3200)(0,l0)=320 pounds is easily overcome by theadditional 800 pound capacity of the driving wheel.

The present cable-injecting device, which has been describedliereinabove with regard to injecting cables or wire lines into wellsfor purposes of logging, etc., could also be used for injecting exibletubing into a pressure well. While lunning the tubing into a well,either end of the tubing could be plugged or capped to prevent the wellfluid from escaping therethrough. If the end of the tubing outside theWell is plugged so that the well fluid pressure acts internally on thewalls of the tubing, the injector mechanism housing 12 must bemaintained at a pressure at least equal to the pressure within thetubing. This is necessary due to the fact that if the pressure withinthe housing 12 is less than the pressure inside the tubing beinginjected into the well, the Bourdon said cable ports'being influid-tight communication with the well, sealing means connected to theother cable port for passing a cable therethrough, a wheel rotatablysupported within said annular housing, said wheel having a plurality ofcircumferential grooves in the outer surface thereof, said grooved wheelbeing in frictional engagement with saidcable over a substantial portionof the circumference of said wheel, a plurality of guide rollerspositioned adjacent to a portion of the periphery of said grooved wheelwithin said housing for transferring said cable from one groove in saidwheel to an adjacent groove, and means extending through said housingfor rotating said wheel. V

2. An apparatus for inserting a cable into a highpressure wellcomprising an annular housing having inlet and outlet cable portsthrough the walls thereof, one of said cable ports being in iluidtightcommunication with the well, sealing means connected tothe other cableport for passing a cable therethrough, a wheel rotatably supportedwithin said annular housing,- said wheel having a plurality ofcircumferential grooves Vin the outer surfacerthereof, said groovedwheel being in frictional engagement with said cable over a substantialportion of the circumference of said wheel, a plurality of guide rollerspositioned in an arc adjacent to a portion of the periphery of saidgrooved wheel within said housing for transferring said cable from onegroove in said wheel to an adjacent groove, said arc having a radiussubstantially equal to that of said groovedwheel, the axes of said guiderollers being skew to the axis of said grooved wheel, and meansextending through said housing for rotating said wheel.

V3. An apparatus for inserting a cable into a highpressure wellcomprising an annular housing having inlet and outlet cable portsthrough the walls thereof, one of said cable ports being in uidtightcommunication with the well, sealing means connected to the other cableport for passing a cable therethrough, a wheel rotatably supportedwithin said annular housing, said wheel having a plurality ofcircumferential grooves in the outer surface thereof, said grooved wheelbeing in frictional engagevment with said cable over a substantialportion of the circumference of said wheel, a plurality of guide rollerspositioned in an arc adjacent to a portion of the periphery of saidgrooved-wheel within said housing for transferring said cable from onegroove in said wheel to an adjacent groove, said arc having a radiussubstantially equal to that of said grooved wheel, the axes of saidguide rollers being skew to the axis of said grooved wheel, said guiderollers having at least one circumferential groove, in the outer surfacethereof, the number of grooves in said guide rollers being no fewer thanone less than the number of grooves in said wheel, and means extendingthrough said housing for rotating said wheel.

4. An apparatus for inserting a cable into a highpressure wellcomprising an annular housing having inlet and outlet cable portsthrough the walls thereof, one of said cable ports being in fluid-tightcommunication with the well, sealing means connected to the other cableport for passing a cable therethrough, a wheel rotatably supportedwithin said annular housing said wheel having a plurality ofcircumferential grooves in the outer surface thereof, said grooves beingof a size to receive thecable therein, said inlet and outlet cable portsbeing positioned on opposite sides of said housing, the axes of saidports being substantially tangential to said grooved wheel whereby saidgrooved wheel is in frictional engagement with said cable over asubstantial portion of the `circurnference of said wheel, a plurality ofguide rollers positioned below and adjacent to a portion of theperiphery of said grooved wheel within said housing for transferringsaid cable from one groove in said wheel to an adjacent groove, andmeans extending through said housing for rotating said wheel.

5. An apparatus for inserting a cable into a highpressure wellcomprising an annular housing having inlet and outlet cable portsthrough the walls thereof, one of said cable ports being in iluidtightcommunication with the well, sealing means connected to the other cableport for passing a cable therethrough, a wheel rotatably supportedwithin said annular housing, said wheel having a plurality ofcircumferential grooves in the outer surface thereof, said grooved wheelbeing in frictional engagement with said cable, a plurality of guiderollers positioned adjacent said grooved wheel within said housing fortransferring said cable from one groove in said wheel to an adjacentgroove, the axes of said guide rollers being References Cited in the leof this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,974,361 La Neve Sept. 18, 19342,567,009 Calhoun et al Sept. 4, 1951 2,630,180 Summers Mar. 3, 19532,677,427 McKinney et al. May 4, 1954

